In the interest of extending his UFC career, former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard will attempt to make the drop to welterweight after receiving nose surgery.

Ariel Helwani broke the news on Tuesday's edition of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV. Here's what he had to say about Lombard joining the 170-pound ranks (transcription via MMA Mania):

I spoke to Lombard today and he's about to work with Mike (Dolce) because he wants to get leaner," Helwani said. "He walks around at 205 and he feels that at his height, it's not really at his best interest to be fighting at 185. He knows the UFC wants him to go down ... First thing's first, he needs to have nose surgery. He broke his nose fighting Yushin Okami so the surgery is coming up next for him -- hopefully next week. After that, he's going to focus on that cut down to 170.

On Monday, "Lightning" indicated that he would be working with Dolce, a famed nutritionist in the MMA community, strongly hinting at the potential drop: